It is a shame that Nastaran Khoshab’s submission
“Occup-ation should not be celebrated” (Feb. 6) cannot
understand why UCLA students would support Israel ““ a country
that has dedicated itself to democratic ideals. Khoshab should have
gotten her facts straight before she made accusations against both
the United States and Israel.
It is disheartening to read the viewpoint of a student who
nearly has her degree in history and yet seems to know very little
about history. First of all, for Khoshab to call Iran a democratic
country shows how far removed from reality she is. True, Iran holds
elections and “calls” Khatami its elected president.
However, Khoshab does not shed light on Khamenei, who is the
unelected, as a religious supreme leader with the power to veto
everything. Khatami is a mere puppet with no real power. I suggest
that Khoshab review Iran’s numerous human rights violations
before making a powerful statement suggestive of an Iranian
democracy!
Furthermore, the issue of occupation is a contentious one, and
there is wide debate about whether Israel is
“occupying” the territories. Khoshab fails to make note
of this. Not many countries win territories in wars and then give
it back. Much of Israel’s territory (minus the areas it
negotiated to give back for the sake of peace) was won in a
defensive war.
Recall that in 1948, pursuant to U.N. Resolution 181, the United
Nations sought to divide the area and offered the Palestinians
half, which they declined. (Palestinians were never willing to
cohabit the area with Jews.) Also, Khoshab argues that displaced
Palestinians have a right to return from Jordan and Lebanon.
However, she forgets that Jordan was the one that kicked the
Palestinian Liberation Organization out of its country in 1971.
Israel never kicked them out; it offered them money for their land,
which they took.
In addition, the attack on our administration is offensive.
President George W. Bush and his administration have never given
blanket support to Israel. What the Bush administration is doing is
trying to protect its citizens. The administration is protecting us
from Khoshab’s so-called “democracy,” because it
funds terrorists. As for the aid that Israel gets, the money
doesn’t go to “settlements” in the West Bank and
Gaza; the money is used for other purposes. Bush has condemned the
“settlements” many times, and I am sure that Congress
gets a detailed report of what the money is being used for before
it makes such allocations.
We live in a country that upholds our freedom of speech. We
should make good use of it. To make false accusations further fuels
the fiery conflict in the Middle East. It is narrow-minded
assertions, such as Khoshab’s, that prevent the peace process
from starting again. Khoshab states that UCLA students should
“think critically” about human rights abuses, and that
is a fantastic idea. Perhaps students ought to spend their time
studying Iran. The last time I checked, women in Iran don’t
even have the right to get a divorce without their husband’s
permission and are denied the right to wear what they want.
Finally, for Khoshab to compare aid to Africa (which combats the
AIDS virus) to aid given to Israel fails to acknowledge that one is
a health and treatment issue, while the other deals with foreign
policy issues. What Khoshab does is completely lose sight of the
varying issues that are considered when Congress allocates aid to
foreign countries. Furthermore, she fails to acknowledge that Egypt
receives a lot of money from the United States as well. Does that
mean that “Egyptian life is worth more than an African
life?”
To imply that the United States and Israel are in a conspiracy
together to “eliminate” the Palestinians reflects a
lack of knowledge and goes against everything the United States
believes in and has fought for since the American Revolution. The
United States has a right to fear for its security, considering the
tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001.
If Khoshab wishes to attack the decisions of the United States,
she should at least appreciate the fact that she has a right to do
so. For if she lived in the Iranian “democracy,” she
would be stoned for her beliefs.